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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Richard Bartle <<A HREF="mailto:76703.3042#compuserve,com">76703.3042#compuserve,com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 11:13:00 -0400</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
Chris Gray <cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA> wrote:
>I don't actually build lists of matching nouns and then restrict based on
>adjectives - I do my searching with the adjectives in effect. Consequence:
>I don't currently support notions like "all but".
This is a good technique for databases in general, as it can mean the
entire database doesn't get searched twice. In a MUD where locality gives a
reasonably small data structure, though, it's not a problem.
>In "drop rock", it seems MUD2 would drop all rocks.
That's right, it would.
>What are the choices here:
> - drop all of them
> - complain about ambiguity
> - drop some "random" rock
> - allow the user to choose
Of these, the second and fourth get in the way of the game. The real
choice is between the first and the third. I chose the first because it fell
naturally from the way I was processing adjectives and so on as operators
applied to sets of candidate objects. Once players got used to it, switching
to another version was not an attractive option.
If I were to rewrite the parser for a new MUD, though, I think I'd
take plural forms into account, ie. DROP ROCK drops one, DROP ROCKS drops
them all. There would have to be some minor messing about for cases like
DROP EVERYTHING, but nothing intractable.
>it had never occurred to me that "drop rock" would drop more than one rock,
>and I would have been surprised by that behaviour.
Not as surprised as the players who type KILL RAT when there are
18 of them in the room...
>Actually, I think I don't like that particular choice.
OK, fair enough!
>Dr. Bartle speaks of "compiling", which suggests that his entire system
>is a single compiled binary.
Wellll...
It's several compiled binaries. The game itself is written in MUDDLE,
which is interpreted by an interpreter written in C. However, the code
which is interpreted is an intermediate code, to which the MUDDLE original
has to be compiled. If I add new words to the vocabulary, that's where I
do it, and that's why it needs to be recompiled. If I change any of the
stages up to the parsing stage, I need to change the C code instead.
>Are there in fact possibilities of adding to the vocabulary at run time?
Yes, there are.
>If so, then abbreviations for things becomes a lot tricker.
Not at all.
>Either you avoid more abbreviations because they *might* conflict, or you
>have to do a lot of searching and checking at runtime, to see what an
>abbreviation should refer to.
No, abbreviations aren't created dynamically, I use them as secondary
names for specific things. In other words, I add abbreviations manually and
state what they point at. If I later add something which could have the
same abbreviation, I may decide to switch the abbreviation to it but more
often than not I'll stick with the original. Abbreviations which the game
figured out on its own and associated with objects at the time of use would
be very dangerous, especially if player names were candidates for such
abbreviation.
Richard
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<li><strong><A NAME="00091" HREF="msg00091.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Adam Wiggins <adam#angel,com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00087" HREF="msg00087.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Richard Woolcock <KaVir#dial,pipex.com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00085" HREF="msg00085.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal(with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Ross Nicoll <rnicoll#calmar-mud,com></li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: An Introduction</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00328" HREF="msg00328.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: An Introduction</A></strong>,
Adam J. Thornton <a href="mailto:adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU">adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU</a>, Fri 24 Jul 1998, 02:16 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00800" HREF="msg00800.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: An Introduction</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Sat 22 Aug 1998, 01:52 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00803" HREF="msg00803.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: An Introduction</A></strong>,
Adam J. Thornton <a href="mailto:adam#phoenix,princeton.edu">adam#phoenix,princeton.edu</a>, Sat 22 Aug 1998, 02:53 GMT
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</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00069" HREF="msg00069.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Wed 08 Jul 1998, 02:02 GMT
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00081" HREF="msg00081.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Richard Bartle <a href="mailto:76703.3042#compuserve,com">76703.3042#compuserve,com</a>, Wed 08 Jul 1998, 15:17 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00085" HREF="msg00085.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal(with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Ross Nicoll <a href="mailto:rnicoll#calmar-mud,com">rnicoll#calmar-mud,com</a>, Wed 08 Jul 1998, 17:35 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00087" HREF="msg00087.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Wed 08 Jul 1998, 18:19 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00091" HREF="msg00091.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Wed 08 Jul 1998, 18:43 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00095" HREF="msg00095.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposal (with apologies to J. Swift)</A></strong>,
Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Thu 09 Jul 1998, 00:56 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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